"Look who it is. Its Loony Lovegood."

Harry was reading in an armchair in the Ravenclaw Common Room (they had been at school for three weeks now, so he had plenty of reading he needed to be doing for classes), but he looked up at the mocking tone. He wasn't sure who was talking, but he knew that some people called Luna that – though he had never been able to catch them in the act before.

"Hello, Cho Chang." Luna's replied, her tone dreamy. "Are you having a good day?"

Cho snorted. "Better than yours is about to be, Loony."

"Hey!" Harry stood up quickly and moved around the chair so that he facing the two girls. "What do you think you're doing?"

Cho looked startled, but then she glared at Harry. "Mind your own business, Potter."

Harry strode forward, positioning himself between Luna and Cho. "Like you were minding yours just now?" He asked derisively. "Leave Luna alone, Chang."

Cho glowered. "Or what? I'm not one of your bloody sycophants, Potter. You can't tell me what to do!"

Harry's upper lip curled into a sneer. "Well, last time I checked you weren't a prefect, so you can't tell me what to do either. But I'm sure that one of the prefects would be interested to know that you were picking on younger students."

Cho scowled furiously. "Fine."

"You didn't have to do that, you know." Luna said quietly, as Cho flounced out of the common room. "I can take care of myself."

"I know." Harry agreed, turning to face her. "But sometimes you don't have to. I can't believe you didn't tell us that Chang was one of the nargles who have been bothering you! Draco and I must have asked you if she was one of them at least ten times."

"It doesn't really bother me." Luna told him seriously. "There's no reason to get upset about it."

Harry raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "Let's say it doesn't bother you at all, which I don't believe by the way, what's stopping her from hassling someone else who is bothered by it?"

Luna opened her mouth but, before she could say anything, Harry spoke again.

"Besides, I know now and there is nothing you can do to stop the retribution that Draco and I are going to bring on her."

Luna's eyes widened. "You can't tell Draco!"

"I am definitely going to tell Draco." Harry countered, before smirking. "And then we're going to make her pay!"

"Promise me you won't really hurt her." Luna said seriously.

"Of course not." Harry reassured her quickly, they weren't bullies. "But she shouldn't be able to just get away with it."

A small smile peeked through Luna's frown. "Then why don't you make sure she doesn't?"

Harry considered that. The idea definitely had some value. The most effective prank they had pulled again Lockhart had been the one that used his past misdeeds against him. Maybe they could do something similar to Cho – something to force her to show her true colours.

"If we were to do something like that, would you be willing to tell us the names of the other nargles?" Harry negotiated.

Luna's had an uncharacteristically shrewd look in her eye. "Only if you and Draco both swear that you won't do anything else to any of them – including Cho."

Harry grimaced, Draco was not going to be impressed.

11-11-11

"You promised her what?" Draco exclaimed in disbelief, before turning to Luna. "Why won't you let us punish them? They're horrible to you. They stole your shoes."

"They borrowed my shoes," Luna corrected lightly. "And they haven't done that for years."

"That doesn't mean they don't deserve to be punished." Draco argued. "We wouldn't do anything really terrible to them, we'd just rough them up a little."

Harry snorted in amusement. "Rough them up a little? What are you going to do? Hit them?"

Draco recoiled at the thought. "And actually touch a blood traitor?"

"No roughing them up." Luna said firmly. "Or I won't tell you who they are."

Draco pouted. "Luna!"

"I don't think we need to anyway." Harry told him. "I've been thinking about what we could do, while staying within Luna's rules, and I have an idea. What if we were to give them some kind of potion that will remove their inhibitions?"

"Similar to Lockhart?" Draco asked. "We don't want to repeat the same prank again."

"Similar," Harry admitted. "But not identical. What if it didn't look like a prank? What if it just looked like them acting on their own? We wouldn't get any credit, but as far as retribution goes…"

A smirk slowly crept across Draco's face. "Oh, I like the sound of that. We could dose their food with potion during dinner one night."

Harry turned to Luna. "How many people are there?"

"Five."

"We shouldn't do it all at once then," Harry decided. "Otherwise people might get suspicious."

Draco's eyes gleamed. "Any idea where we might find a potion recipe for it?"

11-11-11

"Are you looking forward to your first Hogsmeade trip, Luna?" Neville asked absently, twirling a dandelion flower between in fingers.

Harry, who was leaning against a tree, attempting to complete a basic levitation spell with his wand in his left hand, looked up in interest. The first Hogsmeade trip of the year had been scheduled for the next day and all the students, third year and older, were buzzing in anticipation.

"Oh, yes." Luna answered from where she was sitting on the grass making a daisy chain. "I've always wanted to go, but Daddy couldn't find the time to take me."

"I'm looking forward to going to Honeydukes." Blaise commented, looking up from his, Theo, and Draco's game of Exploding Snap. "I've been having to ration my chocolate."

Theo quirked his eyebrow. "Really, Blaise? We've only been at school for three weeks!"

"I would have been fine," Blaise defended. "Except I was generous to share some of it with you lot last week when we met to practise our ani…"

"Don't say it." Draco interrupted quickly. "You never know whose listening."

Blaise made a show of looking around. "Yes, you're right. Those second years over there are definitely worth worrying about."

Draco sniffed haughtily. "I'm looking forward to drinking something other than pumpkin juice at the Three Broomsticks."

"Oh, Merlin, yes!" Theo agreed passionately. "I can't wait until later this year. Apparently one of the assignments McGonagall sets her fourth year class is to figure out how to transfigure pumpkin juice into their favourite drink."

"You could always read ahead you know." Harry pointed out as he let the twig he had been levitating down slowly. "Learn how to do that now."

"Not a bad idea." Theo admitted. "Imagine if I figured out how to conjure it into firewhiskey."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Where are you looking forward to going in Hogsmeade, Neville?"

"Dogweed and Deathcap." Neville answered with a grin.

"The Herbology shop?" Draco asked. "Why?"

"Neville's brilliant at Herbology." Harry reminded him.

"Yes, but doesn't Sprout provide everything we need for class?" Draco questioned.

"She's offered me some advanced lessons." Neville explained. "I have to grow a Fanged Geranium from its seed."

"Oh, your dorm mates are going to love that." Harry smirked.

Neville rolled his eyes. "Sprout's letting me use a corner of Greenhouse Eight."

"So how shall we schedule the day?" Theo asked.

"We could all do our individual jobs and then meet at the Three Broomsticks?" Neville suggested. "Though we should probably go in pairs."

Harry shifted awkwardly and looked over to where Daphne had been sitting quietly on a blanket, her attention on the embroidery she was working on. He hadn't even known that she knew how to do embroidery before this year.

"Actually, I was thinking that Daphne and I might go by ourselves." Harry admitted. "If that's alright with you, of course, Daphne."

Daphne looked up with a polite smile. "Of course, Harry."

Draco looked amused. "You're taking her on a date, Harry? How very non-traditional of you."

"I'm courting her." Harry corrected him loftily. "As any gentleman would when betrothed to such a lovely lady."

"Harry, promise me you'll never say anything like that around Natasja." Theo told him seriously. "Seriously, mate, you make the rest of us look bad."

"She's only eleven, Theo." Draco pointed out. "She won't be worrying about that for another couple of years. Blaise and I are the ones who should be worried. Astoria's thirteen this year and Ines is older than all of us."

"What about me?" Neville asked with a grin. "You've already got your girls locked in. I actually have to find someone willing to marry me. A task that will be much harder if they compare to me Harry."

"Oh, I don't think it will be too hard." Luna commented, not looking up from her daisy chain. "You just have to look in the right place."

Harry watched her for a second and was surprised to see a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. What was that about?

11-11-11

Harry had to force himself not to pull anxiously at his robes as he made his way down to the Entrance Hall the next afternoon. He had arranged to meet Daphne and, despite the fact they had been friends for over two years, he couldn't help but feel nervous. Aside from their conversation on his birthday, Harry couldn't remember ever having spent time alone with her. Not to mention the fact that she had been acting weird ever since they had gotten betrothed.

What if she had changed her mind and wished she hadn't agreed to the betrothal? There was no way out of their betrothal, at least not without shaming their Houses, and Harry didn't want to spend the rest of his life with someone who didn't like him.

Still, an unhappy marriage wasn't Harry's biggest worry right now. No, he was more worried about this Hogsmeade tripping going badly. He had spent at embarrassing amount of time in his dorm choosing a set of robes and calming his hair, while pointedly ignoring Anthony's snide comments and his other dorm-mates' obvious amusement.

Harry pushed down his nervousness as he strode into the Entrance Hall and looked around for Daphne. He found her after a few seconds, standing near one of the pillars with Draco, Theo and Blaise. Daphne looked lovely. Her hair was down and she was wearing silvery grey robes and gold jewellery, both of which looked stunning on her.

"Merry meet." Harry greeted them all with a nod as he joined them.

"Merry meet." Theo, Blaise bowed, while Daphne curtsied.

Harry swallowed down a grimace as he acknowledged them – he wished Daphne didn't feel as though she had to do that.

"We'll be off then." Draco decided with a small smirk. "Have a good afternoon."

"And make sure that you're always around people to chaperone you." Theo added, wiggling his eyebrows with a grin.

Harry raised an unimpressed eyebrow as he offered Daphne his arm. "I beg your pardon?"

Theo's grin slipped off his face and he swallowed heavily. "Uh…"

"He apologises for his inappropriate humour." Blaise said quickly, with a pitying look in Theo's direction.

Harry nodded briskly. "Apology accepted." He turned his attention to Daphne. "Shall we?"

"Of course." Daphne answered demurely.

Harry turned and led Daphne towards the doors where Filch was checking students off his list.

"Thanks, Blaise." Theo commented lowly as Harry was walking away. "Did you see his expression? I swear, Draco, he's just as terrifying as your bloody father."

Harry allowed himself a small smirk. After all, emulating Lord Malfoy was one of his life's goals.

11-11-11

The carriage ride to Hogsmeade was twenty of the most awkward minutes of Harry's life. He and Daphne had ended up in a carriage with some third year Hufflepuffs were spent the entire ride staring at them with wide eyes.

When their carriage finally stopped, Harry waited for the Hufflepuffs to scramble out, before following them much more gracefully and offering Daphne his hand. Daphne accepted it daintily, before carefully stepping down from the carriage.

"Where would you like to go first?" Harry asked, as she tucked her hand into his arm.

Daphne looked surprised for a second, before her expression cleared again. "I don't have a preference."

"Do you have anywhere you want to go?" Harry asked. "Or would you rather we just went somewhere to talk?"

"Whatever you would like." Daphne murmured deferentially.

Harry sighed quietly. "Alright, well, how about we go to Honeydukes and then we can go the Three Broomsticks for a drink. Unless you want to go to Madame Puddifoot's?"

"No, not unless you wish to." Daphne answered.

Harry definitely didn't want to Madame Puddifoot's. He'd heard enough about it, and seen enough through the window, to know that he never wanted to set foot in the place. Not only did he not fancy drinking tea with pink confetti floating in it, but his friends would never let him live it down.

Thankfully there weren't too many people at Honeydukes yet, since Harry and Daphne had been in one of the first carriages to leave Hogwarts, and Harry was able to buy himself and Daphne each some sweets without having to wait in a long line. He waited until they were outside before handing her the Sugared Butterfly Wings and Glacial Snow Flakes that he had bought for her.

Daphne accepted them with an uneasy expression. "Thank you, Harry."

They walked in silence to the Three Broomsticks, before ordering themselves some butterbeers and choosing a small table near the front window. Like Honeydukes, the pub was quiet – with only a few groups of students sitting around with drinks. Harry knew that it wouldn't be long until the hordes descended, but at least he and Daphne had a table.

"How are you?" Harry asked, once they had both taken their seats across from each other.

"Very well, thank you." Daphne answered blandly.

"Are you enjoying being back at Hogwarts?" Harry questioned after a short pause.

"Yes." Daphne inclined her head. "I do miss it during the summer."

There was another pause, this one longer, and Harry sighed. "I haven't had a chance to really talk to you since we started learning how to…you know. Are you happy with being a fox?"

Daphne looked slightly unsure. "Yes, very much so. Were you pleased by my animal?"

"Of course." Harry assured her. "I think it matches you very well. Do you realise that your animal is the most dangerous out of all of ours?"

Daphne's eyes widened. "I'm sure that's not true."

"Well, it does depend how big George's dog is." Harry admitted. "And my owl seemed pretty big, so it might be able to hold its own too, but you're definitely going to be more dangerous that the squirrels and the dormouse."

Daphne looked down at the table.

"Daphne?" Harry asked after a minute of silence. "Is everything alright? You've been very quiet since my birthday."

Daphne's eyes flew up to his face. "Are you displeased?"

Harry frowned in confusion. "Well, I wouldn't exactly put it like that. But you've been…different. I don't think you've reproved anyone all year."

Daphne glanced away anxiously. "I don't want to upset you."

"I don't understand." Harry admitted, he felt as though he was floundering. "Why would you think that I would be upset? I love the way you reprimand people."

"You do?" Daphne looked completely lost.

"Yes," Harry answered seriously. "Is that why you've been so quiet? Because you were worried about what I would think?"

Daphne looked down at the table. "Yes."

Harry sighed. This sort of situation hadn't been in single one of Cousin Narcissa's lectures on appropriate conduct during courting.

"I don't want you to change who you are." He told her eventually. "When Sirius told me about your father's offer, I spent a lot of time thinking about it. I decided I wanted to go ahead with the contract because I like you. I think you're funny and smart and really pretty. You remind me a bit of Cousin Narcissa actually, which might sound weird – but I really like it."

Daphne's gaze had moved from the table to Harry's face and she seemed to be trying study his expression. "I…I…" She looked back at the table. "So you would prefer for me to talk more?"

Harry let out an explosive sigh, before gasping when she actually flinched away from him. What in Merlin's name was going on? Why was Daphne so cautious and scared?

All of a sudden he remembered that Draco had once described Daphne's previous betrothed as being a bully who Daphne was terrified of. Was that what this was about? Was Daphne scared that he would turn out like Eugene Odgen?

"I want you to be yourself." Harry told her, before deciding to test his theory. "Daphne, I promise you that I'm nothing like Eugene."

Daphne's eyes widened.

"Really, I'm not." Harry went on. "I don't know much about him, but Draco said that he was a bully. You know I'm not like that, right?"

Daphne shook her head so quickly that some of her hair hit her face. "Of course not, Harry. I just don't want to upset you."

"But I don't want you to not want to upset me." Harry argued emotively. "I just want you to be you. We're friends right? That doesn't have to change just because we're betrothed. I'm not going to suddenly get mean."

Daphne looked just as lost as Harry had felt a few minutes before hand. "I'm not sure…" She trailed off.

"Listen," Harry started. "I'm not sure what you're worried that I might do, but I promise that I won't do it. You know I only ever tell people off when they're improper and you're just as proper as I am, if not more so. Anyway, I would never tell you off like I do Pansy. You're going to be my wife – that makes us partners."

Daphne still looked unsure, but she offered Harry a weak smile. "Really?"

"Really." Harry answered firmly.

11-11-11

The rest of their afternoon in Hogsmeade was awkward to say the least. Daphne seemed to switch between being herself and being the meek version of her from earlier, and Harry wasn't sure what else to say. The worst thing was that he wasn't sure who he could ask about it. He didn't want to tell any of his friends (they were Daphne's friends too and it felt as though he would be breaking a confidence), but he didn't want to write it in a letter either – there was too much chance of it being intercepted.

In the end Harry decided to wait until the next Wednesday and talk it over with Sirius. His godfather was still flooing into Hogwarts, through Remus' floo, every Wednesday afternoon to teach Harry how to combine duelling and fencing. It was wonderful to be learning a new skill, even if it was ridiculously hard, but it was even more wonderful to have a reason to see Sirius every week.

The hardest part wasn't the lessons with Sirius though, it was the homework his godfather had set him. Harry was supposed to be learning to use both his wand and his sword with his weaker hand. He had been using his, Neville's and Takashi's morning fencing practise to learn to how complete the basic fencing exercises with his left hand, but it felt even more awkward than it had when he had first picked up a sword over a year ago. Not only did his left hand seem to have absolutely no coordination, but it was also a lot weaker than his right hand.

Casting spells with his wand in his left hand was easier and, after three weeks Harry had already managed to cast about a quarter of his first year spells. The problem was that, due to his uncoordinated arm, he had to focus all his attention on making sure that the arm movement was right. He had no idea how he was going to manage to deflect spells with his sword at the same time as casting them.

His friends all seemed to think that he was a bit odd for even trying, especially since they were aware that he had been teaching himself wandless magic as well, but Harry was used to them finding his thirst for knowledge a bit bizarre.

Harry didn't mind, though he did wish his friends cared more about learning to protect themselves. Sure they were purebloods and so were much less likely to be targeted by Voldemort, but that didn't make them immune. Roger Davis, one of the Hogwarts' students who had been killed at the Quidditch Cup, had been a pureblood too.